title: Excitability and optical pulse generation in semiconductor lasers driven by resonant tunneling diode photo-detectors.
abstract: We demonstrate, experimentally and theoretically, excitable nanosecond optical pulses in optoelectronic integrated circuits operating at telecommunication wavelengths (1550 nm) comprising a nanoscale double barrier quantum well resonant tunneling diode (RTD) photo-detector driving a laser diode (LD). When perturbed either electrically or optically by an input signal above a certain threshold, the optoelectronic circuit generates short electrical and optical excitable pulses mimicking the spiking behavior of biological neurons. Interestingly, the asymmetric nonlinear characteristic of the RTD-LD allows for two different regimes where one obtain either single pulses or a burst of multiple pulses. The high-speed excitable response capabilities are promising for neurally inspired information applications in photonics.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Romeira
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Javaloyes
authors.forename: Charles N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Ironside
authors.forename: José M L
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balle
authors.forename: Oreste
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Piro